CNBC GOP Debate Was A Trainwreck – But Not Because Of The Candidates

CNBC’s GOP debate could go down in history for being the worst ever. It was a trainwreck and not because of Donald Trump or Ben Carson’s cringeworthy answers.

This is the first time no one’s really concerned with who won the Republican presidential debate Wednesday.

Primarily because there is one clear loser: host channel CNBC itself.

The channel’s moderators lost track and control of the debate when they started asking questions that not only left the candidates scratching their heads, but also did the same to the audiences and fellow journalists.

CNBC does underscore that the only people sometimes more vapid than candidates are journalists talking about candidates.

In what was the clearest indication of how bad the moderators were at their jobs, the audience booed the panel of hosts, including Carl Quintanilla, Becky Quick and John Harwood, when one tried to grill retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson over his controversial association with Mannatech, Inc., a nutritional-supplement company based in Texas.

It’s really hard to pick the most awkward moment, but the one that generated most applause was when candidate Ted Cruz took the stage and said: “Let me say something at the outset. The questions that have been asked so far in this debate illustrate why the American people don’t trust the media. This is not a cage match . . . The questions shouldn’t be getting people to tear into each other.”

You know CNBC’s done something *really* wrong when people like Trump, Carson and Cruz start making sense.